The Gaucho Record
UC Santa Barbara will play its final exhibition game on Friday night when it hosts Westmont College. The Gauchos won their first exhibition game, a 56-49 decision over Cal State Los Angeles. Last season, UCSB posted a 16-12 overall record and a 10-8 mark in Big West Conference play. The Gauchos lost to Cal State Northridge in the first round of the Big West Tournament.

On The Radio
All UC Santa Barbara radio games are broadcast are carried live in Santa Barbara by ClearChannel Santa Barbara. Most of the games are broadcast on KTLK 1340-AM, but three will be carried on KTMS 990-AM. KEYT-TV Sports Director Gerry Fall is in his first season as the play-by-play voice of the Gauchos. Former Los Angeles Lakers' Superstar Don Ford will again be mikeside for the color commentary. Much to the disgust and chagrin of the Santa Barbara radio-listening community, UCSB Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations Bill Mahoney will handle the color commentary for selected road games.

The Bob Williams Show
The Bob Williams show will be aired each Tuesday night from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on KTLK 1340 AM in Santa Barbara. Coach Williams will talk about past and upcoming games, interview Gaucho players and welcome guests from the Santa Barbara sports community.

Brown, Kennedy Join Lengthy Injured List
Junior guard Cecil Brown and sophomore forward David Kennedy have been added to UCSB's lengthy injured list. Brown is expected to miss three to four weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee. The knee was injured in practice. Kennedy is nursing a sore right leg. He will have a bone scan on Wednesday to determine the extent of the injury. Brown and Kennedy will miss the Gauchos' second exhibition game on Friday night, as will junior forward Cameron Goettsche, sophomore forward Glenn Turner and freshman forward Chris Devine. Goettsche has a strained groin and is expected to miss at least two more weeks, Turner has a sprained right ankle and should be out another week, and Devine had surgery on his right knee before the start of practice and will not return until mid-January.

Eight Will Have To Be Enough
Like it or not, eight UCSB players will be available for Friday's game against Westmont. While freshman Todd Follmer is healthy, he is expected to redshirt the 2004-05 season and thus he is not expected to play on Friday. Thus, the Gauchos will have eight players suited for the Westmont game. Seniors Casey Cook and Chrismen Oliver, juniors Josh Davis, Joe See and Michael Chambers, and freshmen Chris Moore, Alex Harris and Derek Rasp will be on-hand and ready to go against the Warriors.

Possible Reserves - Notes
G - Michael Chambers - Scored two points in six minutes in his first game as a Gaucho.
G - Derek Rasp - Walk-on guard did not play in exhibition opener.
F - Chris Moore - Freshman was scoreless in nine minutes against CSULA.

Lengthy Road Trip Opens Regular Season
UCSB will begin the 2004-05 regular season with four road games. The Gauchos will begin campaign at San Diego State on Friday, November 19, and then after a brief return to Santa Barbara, they will hit the road for a Tuesday, November 23 game at the defending Big Ten Tournament champion Wisconsin. After taking Thanksgiving off, UCSB will close its four-game season-opening road stretch with games at West Coast Conference opponents San Francisco (November 27) and Pepperdine (December 1). The Gauchos will play their first non-conference home game on Saturday, December 4, when they host San Diego State in a rematch of the season-opener.

The Bob Williams FileBob Williams is in his seventh season as the head coach at UC Santa Barbara. Last year, he guided the Gauchos to a 16-12 overall record and a 10-8 mark in Big West Conference play. He has also guided UCSB to three straight winning seasons, the first time the program has accomplished the feat since 1987-88 through 1989-90. In 2002-03, Williams' Gauchos went 18-14 overall and 14-4 in league. The 2002-03 Big West mark earned Santa Barbara its first-ever regular season championship along with a postseason trip to the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, the success earned Williams his second Big West Coach of the Year award, his first coming after an impressive 1999 campaign. In 2001-02, Williams steered UCSB to its first Big West Conference Tournament Championship ever and first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years. In his six seasons in Santa Barbara, Williams' teams have posted an 96-79 (.558) overall record and a 66-36 (.647) record in Big West games. Prior to his arrival at UCSB, he spent eight years at UC Davis and in those eight years, his teams recorded 20 or more wins five times and a 158-76 record. In Williams' final season, the Aggies went 31-2, won the NCAA Division II National Championship and he was named NABC Division II Coach of the Year. Including two seasons at Menlo College, Williams has a record of 285-179 at four-year schools.

UCSB Picked Fourth In Both Preseason Polls
UCSB was selected fourth in both the coaches and media polls at last week's Big West Media Day. In the coaches poll, Pacific was picked first with Utah State selected second and Cal State Northridge third. In the media poll, Pacific and Utah State tied for first, although UOP garnered one more first-place vote, and once again Cal State Northridge was picked third. In the coaches poll, the Gauchos trailed Cal State Northridge by five points and in the media poll they trailed the Matadors by 20 points. There was a clear separation between the fourth and fifth-place teams. UCSB finished 17 points ahead of Idaho in the coaches poll and 29 points up on Cal State Fullerton in the media poll.

Up Next: Westmont
When UCSB hosts Westmont College on Friday night, it will renew a lengthy rivalry which datets back to 1949. There have been 46 games played between the schools with the Gauchos holding a 41-5 advantage. This year's game, an exhibition, will not count on UCSB's record. It will, however, count on Westmont's record. The teams played last year with the Gauchos recording a resounding 66-36 regular season victory. The last time the Warriors defeated the Gauchos was in December of 1998, when they made three free throws with one second remaining to eek out a one-point decision.

Like A Rock
Senior forward Casey Cook was expected to be one of UCSB's workhorses in 2004-05, and that status has solidified as the rest of the frontcourt players have dropped like flies. Last season, Cook played in 25 games, making 18 starts, and he averaged 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. His 9.9 points per game average is the highest among Gaucho returnees. The 6-toot-8 native of Sacramento also led the team in field goal percentage at 49.7%. He missed three games at midseason after suffering an injury of his own. Cook partially tore a muscle in his left leg prior to a game against Utah State. Although he played in the game against the Aggies, and then in the next game against Idaho, the tear was diagnosed soon thereafter and he sat out three full contests and was limited in four others.

Mr. Everything
Junior Josh Davis should, by all rights, be referred to as `junior guard Josh Davis', but with the UCSB infirmary in full operation, Davis becomes something of a utility infielder and calling him a guard would do both he, and the reader, a disservice. Either way, Davis will once again be a jack-of-all-trades for the Gauchos. In the team's first exhibition game, a 56-49 win over Cal State Los Angeles, he started at the the three-spot, one of the wings, but also played some at the two-spot, the other wing. After a slow shooting start, Davis finished with nine points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal in 28 minutes of action. He missed his first few shots, but finished 3-of-7 from the floor and he scored the team's final seven points to seal the win. In addition, Davis hit both of his free throw attempts, a good omen after he shot just 44.1% from the charity stripe in 2003-04.

Point Guard Tag-Team
Early-on, senior guard Chrismen Oliver and junior guard Joe See have a tag-team thing going at the point guard position. Oliver made the start in the season's first exhibition game, a 56-49 victory over visiting Cal State Los Angeles. Oliver played 20 minutes, scoring two points, passing off for two assists and coming-up with a pair of steals. In all, he had a good poker hand (three of a kind), and a decent debut in a starting role. See struggled with his shot early, but finished with eight points, four rebounds, three assists and one steal in 23 minutes. He made 3-of-9 shots from the floor overall and 2-of-3 from three-point territory. With the multitude of injuries, there is a possibility that both Oliver and See will be in the starting lineup for Friday's game against Westmont. The third option at the point is freshman Alex Harris, but he is expected to play mostly at a wing while Cecil Brown recuperates from his sprained knee ligament.

Into The Fire
Entering the start of practice in mid-October, the expectations of freshmen Alex Harris and Chris Moore, as well as junior transfer Michael Chambers and redshirt freshman Derek Rasp, were limited. Harris was expected to be a major contributor at both the wing and the point, but Moore was expected to a play a relatively minor role, Chambers was expected to add depth to the backcourt, and Rasp was to provide the same. Now, Harris will find himself in the starting lineup, and the other trio is the extent of the team's bench. At least for the time being.

New Faces In Suits, Not Uniforms
The only new faces on the UCSB bench are not those of players. There are two significant changes on the coaching staff. Marty Wilson, who was an assistant under Bob Williams for the past six years, is now at Utah. He has been replaced on the bench by former Gaucho guard Matt Stock, who moves over from the Director of Operations Position. Stock is only a semi-new face on the bench. Occasionally over the past few seasons, he has snuck onto the bench from his seat at the press table. Taking over for Stock in the role of Director of Operations, is another former UCSB guard, Derrick Allen. Allen will also take over Stock's spot at the press table and, undoubtedly, occasionally sneak ont the bench. David Campbell and Mark Amaral are the holdover assistant coaches.